Self contained ph indicating drug



Patented Mar. 20, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE George Clausman Shivers, Colorado Springs, C010.

No Drawing. Application June 20, 1932, Serial No. 618,307

2 Claims.

This invention relates to means for immediately indicating the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution when drugs in ampule form are dissolved therein.

It has long been known that the intravenous injection of an acid solution of arsphenamin drugs, such as employed in the treatment of syphilis, will result in the death of the patient. Experiment and autopsies show that the acid solutions of the drugs combine with the proteins of the blood plasma to form emboli which are carried to the heart, lungs, and other organs Where, by blocking the blood vessels, they produce death.

When prepared in the laboratories, the ampules of the drugs are neutral, but there is no assurance that they will still produce a neutral solution when later dissolved in sterile water for use. Occasionally one or more of the ampules in a shipment will be found to have become changed so as to produce an acid solution. Therefore unless each separate ampule solution is tested im-. mediately before injection, fatal results may result. It is exceedingly inconvenient to test each individual solution and there is therefore a great liability that the test may be inadvertently omitted with perhaps fatal results to the patient.

The principal object of this invention is to provide means whereby a visible warning indication will be given the physician, at the time he prepares the solution for injection, should the solution be too alkaline or acid for use, so that no tests will be required and so that any possibility of injecting a fatal solution will be eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to combine an indicator dye with the drug in the ampule at the time of manufacture so that when dissolved in sterile water for injection each ampule will immediately indicate by the color of the resulting solution, whether it has become too acid for safe use. Such an ampule eliminates any possibility of accidental injection of a solution Which might result in the death of a patient.

The invention comprises the admixing of a suitable indicator dye with the dry drugs before the ampules thereof are prepared so that when the drug is later dissolved for use, the dye Will act to color or decolorize the solution according to its natural characteristics which are dependent upon the acidity, alkalinity or neutrality of the solution. Any suitable, non-toxic indicator dye may be employed for this purpose, such as bromthymol blue or litmus. If litmus is used, the physician will be warned by a pinkish color to his solution that it should be discarded. If bromthymol blue is used the warning signal will be a yellow solution, etc.

The particular dye, of course, has no bearing upon the present invention, the invention resides in the provision of a self indicating ampule of the type employed for intravenous injection.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:- r

1. The combination in an ampule of an arsphenamine drug and a non-toxic indicator admixed with said drug so as to indicate the neutrality of the contents of said ampule when th latter is dissolved in sterile water.

2. An ampulated drug for use in the treatment of syphilitic conditions comprising: an arsphenamine combined with bromthymol blue.

GEORGE CLAUSMAN SHIVERS. 

